THE vast majority of European Union (EU) citizens working in the UK would not qualify for a visa under Brexit.

The 2.2million EU workers in Britain currently have no restrictions placed on them but if Britons voted to leave the bloc in June they would be in the same position as non-EU workers who have to pass stringent controls to get a visa.

Once new rules come into force next April, the numbers of EU citizens who would not be able to work in the UK would rise to about 81 per cent, research by Oxford University's Migration Observatory has revealed.

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ny system that selects EU workers based on skills and pay is likely to hit these sectors hardest

Carlos Vargas-Silva

The most common visa for non-EU workers requires them to be sponsored by a UK employer, have a job offer in a skilled graduate-level occupation with a minimum salary of £20,800.

As of April next year the salary threshold will be raised to £30,000. However, graduate recruits or people aged 25 and under will continue to have the lower threshold, but only for the first three years of their employment.

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The construction industry would be hit hard if EU workers could not work in the UK

Report author Carlos Vargas-Silva, said: "Most sectors of the UK labour market now have a significant EU migrant workforce — and many of these are lower-paid sectors, such as hotels and manufacturing.

"Even if the immigration system is redesigned after a Brexit vote, any system that selects EU workers based on skills and pay is likely to hit these sectors hardest."

A total of 442,000 EU citizens out of the British total of 5.7m working in UK hotels and restaurants would fail to meet the requirements, with the Observatory predicting 94 per cent would not qualify.

And 96 per cent working on Britain's farms would not qualify, which would place fruit and veg farmers in turmoil as they often rely on eastern Europeans for the harvest season.

The study, carried out for the Financial Times, says Britain would almost certainly change its immigration requirements if it was to leave the EU, with a potential focus on easing restrictions on European immigration.

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Lawyers say those EU workers already in the country would be entitled to stay and the Leave campaign said EU workers already here would have their "rights unaffected".

In areas such as construction, manufacturing, energy and transport, about three-quarters of EU workers would not be allowed under the current overseas worker rules.

EU workers make up about 6.6 per cent of the UK's total workforce, with manufacturing companies employing more EU workers as a proportion of their workforce than any other sector - with more than 10 per cent of three million workers.